DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING OF OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Thanks for the company, but we don't have much for you today.

**Security Council

There is no meeting of the Security Council, as you know. Instead, the President of the Council for the month of January, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke of the United States, is holding bilateral meetings with members of the Council today and tomorrow morning.

The composition of the Council, of course, changed on New Year's Day. Bangladesh, Jamaica, Mali, Tunisia and Ukraine join the Council as the five new non-permanent members, who were voted in by the General Assembly last October. They replace Bahrain, Brazil, Gabon, Gambia and Slovenia.

Tomorrow afternoon, the new membership of the Council will meet for the first time, with informal consultations scheduled to discuss their programme of work for this month.

**United Nations Weathers Y2K Transition

As you may have noticed, the world didn't actually shut down during the transition to the New Year, despite worries over the "Y2K" computer glitch. Although United Nations Headquarters was closed for most personnel from 1 p.m. on Friday until this morning, the Situation Centre was operational, and a special Y2K Coordination Response Team was up and running to deal with any Y2K problems.

In any event, everything went exceptionally well, and work by the various personnel involved -- including security, information technology and management staff -- was well organized.

By yesterday, the Coordination Response Team received status reports from United Nations field establishments in 127 countries, 14 United Nations missions and 11 other duty stations. None of them -- not one -- reported any significant Y2K-related disruptions.

Similarly, there were no reportable disruptions here at United Nations Headquarters.

For all that, the effort, which included mobilizing about 200 people over the weekend, involved few costs beyond the cost of weekend labour, and was all done within existing resources.

**Notes from East Timor: Crime on the Rise in Dili

Crime is on the upswing in Dili, East Timor, according to United Nations Police there who are asking for additional protective equipment for their work. The United Nations Mission tomorrow will swear in a Transitional Judicial Service Commission to recommend a dozen judges, which they hope will result in the establishment of District Courts within a week.

Yesterday, the United Nations formally took control of Dili Airport. The first flight, from Indonesia, touched down at 12:40 p.m. An Australian airline will begin flying three times a week between Dili and Darwin, Australia, on 16 January.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the Mission, yesterday discussed with a representative of the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry the opening of an Indonesian Diplomatic Mission in Dili sometime before the expected visit of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid in late February.

The Trust Fund of the United Nations Mission now has $8 million in it, thanks to contributions from Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Portugal. That money will be used to cover the costs of running the Government until tax revenue can be generated. It will also be used to fund quick impact projects, as aid in the territory shifts from emergency relief to rehabilitation and development.

Today, the Mission announced the arrival next week of its first forensic expert, who will begin work on the mass grave sites in the East Timorese enclave of Ambeno, also known as Oekusi. He or she -- I don't know which it is -- is a forensic pathologist from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Sidney, Australia.

While the number of East Timorese to have returned home is now just over 126,000, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that returns from West Timor continue to be hampered by the militia there.

**MINURSO Completes Voter Identification in Western Sahara

In Western Sahara, the Identification Commission completed its identification of applicants from three tribal groupings on schedule last week, convoking more than 64,000 people and identifying more than 51,000 of them. Identification work was completed on schedule last Thursday, and a provisional list of voters for the Western Sahara referendum will be issued on 15 January.

Since the voter identification progress began, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has convoked a total of more than 240,000 and identified nearly 200,000 of them as eligible to vote.

The process, however, is not over -- if you read the Secretary-General's last report. On 17 January, appeals from people who were not deemed eligible to vote can begin, and more than 70,000 people may appeal. If such a high number of appeals were issued, the Secretary-General said in his last report, the holding of the referendum could be delayed until the year 2002 or even beyond.

**Afghanistan Humanitarian Update Available

Available in our Office is the weekly humanitarian update from Afghanistan, issued today by the Office of the United Nations Coordinator for Afghanistan.

**Payments

And the money is already rolling in for the year 2000. We have payments in full from Belarus, Finland, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Marshall Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

So, thank-you to you prompt payers. The rest of you have until the end of January to pay in full, under the financial regulations.

**Rolando Gomez Returns to Spokesman's Office

Rolando Gomez is back in my Office starting today, after a seven-month stint in East Timor. Despite a couple bouts with malaria, he seems none the worse for wear, and we're delighted to have him home, and back at your service.

That's all I have for you.

**Questions and Answers

Question: What is the time frame for the selection of the Executive Chairman for UNMOVIC. The Secretary-General must be looking over candidates now.

Spokesman: The Secretary-General does have a short list of candidates for the Executive Director, of the successor to UNSCOM (United Nations Special Commission) -- UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission). The deadline is, I believe, 16 January, which is a Sunday. And so we're expecting some action to be taken by Friday, 14 January.

Question: On Timor and the police asking for additional equipment, what do they want?

Spokesman: I don't know specifically. The kinds of things they're dealing with are fights between gangs of young people. There are a lot of young people on the street with no work, nothing to do. And so they tend to form into small groups, wander around town, bump into rival groups and start fighting. There have also been break-ins of the homes of international staff. There was an attempted rape of a local staff member. So, the kinds of crime that are occurring are more serious now, and I think they feel they need a bit more help.

Question: Friday is a holiday, right?

Spokesman: Yes, it is. This is a three-day week. I hope you can all stand it.

Question: Friday is one of the “Eids”?

Spokesman: It's one of the “Eids”. Yes.

Question: There's a woman who is suing the United Nations, pretty much as we speak, or, excuse me, suing Chase to keep about $700,000 of the United Nations' money. This is going today in Manhattan Supreme Court. Could you tell us, is the United Nations filing any position on this or taking any other action to get this money back? Spokesman: I know we were waiting for the outcome of whatever is taking place in the Court today. The woman apparently feels that she has a right to keep this money, which is something over $700,000, which, in fact, had been contributed to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in support of our efforts in this year for bio-diversity. So, I don't think I can say anything about this case.

Just to finish the story for those of you who don't know it, the United Nations account into which this money was to be placed, differs by one digit from the personal account of this woman in Brooklyn. Someone made a mistake. I can't say who did, but we’ll have to see what the results of the investigation are. But as a result of this, over a year she got multiple payments adding up to over $700,000. And apparently she has spent some of this money. I believe her defence is that she thought she won the lottery. But I think this is being evaluated in court. I don’t think I can say anything about it.

Question: Just as a quick follow-up. A dozen nations sent this money to the account that was off by a digit. Was it Chase Manhattan that distributed the wrong account number, or was it UNEP, or someone else?

Spokesman: We don’t yet know. I've seen wire service accounts in which someone speaking for Chase apologized for the error. But my guidance is to say that until a detailed investigation is completed, we're not prepared to say who made the error.

Question: Is the United Nations taking this woman to court?

Spokesman: This is a matter between this woman, who is a Chase customer, and the Chase Bank over money that is ours.

Question: Any word on Karl Paschke's replacement?

Spokesmen: Nothing yet. I'm sorry they have nothing to give you on that. The search continues and it turns out to be a lot more difficult, I think, than we anticipated.

Question: Regarding Western Sahara and the possibility of 70,000 appeals, is there any rough time frame as to when the referendum would go ahead?

Spokesman: No, the only one is the one I already mentioned that if there are these many challenges, it could take us to the other side of 2002.

Question: You said that the search for Karl Paschke's successor turns out to be difficult than you anticipated. Why? Is it that that job is so sensitive, demanding?

Spokesman: It's very demanding. And the Secretary-General has set high standards. A number of names have been put forward to him. He's interviewed a number of people. But he's not yet found the person that he thinks is right for the job.

Thanks very much.

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